Second Person Sentenced in Large Treasure Valley
Meth Trafficking Conspiracy

July 23 (Boise, Idaho) – Lourdes Muro-Garcia, 34, a Mexican National formerly residing in Nampa, Idaho, was sentenced in United States District Court in Boise on July 23, 2012, to 30 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release for money laundering. Muro-Garcia pleaded guilty to a superseding information on May 10, 2012.

According to court documents, Muro-Garcia admitted that on December 16, 2010, acting under the direction of co-defendant Jose Escobedo-Gonzalez, she assisted in picking up from another individual the proceeds of the sale of at least 50 grams of methamphetamine. Muro-Garcia admitted that she then transported the proceeds of the sale to another location for delivery to Escobedo-Gonzalez. She also admitted that she utilized a telephone to arrange the transportation of the money.

Co-defendants Juventino Lara-Plancarte, Ronald Garcia, Randi Leann Atkisson, Fabian Nunez-Garcia, Jose Ramon Escobedo-Gonzalez, Diego Gomez-Lara, Antony Alegria Zedeno, and Benjamin Prieto pleaded guilty to related drug trafficking charges and will be sentenced in August and September before U.S. District Judge Edward J. Lodge at the federal courthouse in Boise. Co-defendant Victor Chavez Garcia was found guilty on July 13 of conspiracy to distribute 500 grams of methamphetamine and using a communication facility in furtherance of a drug trafficking offense. He is scheduled to be sentenced in Boise on October 1.

Co-defendant Jorge Luis Cardoza, a Mexican national, was sentenced in federal court on June 12 to 120 months in prison for conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine.

The Organized Crime/Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) case, named “Operation Flamethrower,” is the result of a year-long, multi-agency investigation. Investigators and prosecutors from federal, state, and local agencies cooperated in the arrests and seizures. It included the cooperative law enforcement efforts of the Drug Enforcement Administration, Nampa Police Department, Canyon County Sheriff's Office, Canyon County SWAT team, Metro Violent Crime Task Force, Idaho State Police, Caldwell Police Department, Ada County Sheriff's Office, Boise Police Department, and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security

Investigations (HSI), Canyon County Prosecutor's Office, and the United States Attorney's Office.

The OCDETF program is a federal multi-agency, multi-jurisdictional task force that supplies supplemental federal funding to federal and state agencies involved in the identification, investigation, and prosecution of major drug trafficking organizations.